WHEN SOMEONE DIES

Sudden or Unexpected Death

In some cases, the Doctor may not be able to issue the Medical Certificate of Cause of Death and then the coroner will be required to investigate the circumstances of the death. This may occur if someone has died suddenly or unexpectedly or if they have died during, or shortly after, an operation.

Once the coroner is involved, it is their responsibility to establish the cause of death. The coroner is working in your interests and will keep you informed throughout and if you wish, we can support you to liaise with and understand the coroner’s involvement.

Even if the coroner is involved, we would still encourage you to contact us as soon as possible so that we can start to support you to consider your funeral planning choices. Particularly when someone has died suddenly, you may have given very little thought as to what sort of funeral would best reflect the life of the individual who has died.

Even though we may not initially be able to put any of your wishes into action, by understanding what you want we can then move forward once the coroner has given us permission to do so.

Even in circumstances where someone has died suddenly and unexpectedly we believe that, with the right support, the funeral planning process can help friends and family to begin to come to terms with their loss.